You have got to be kidding me

You know that new biopic of Charles Darwin, directed by Jon Amiel (who also made The Core, for whatever that's worth), entitled Creation? Despite what the title suggests, it's quite reasonable and is fairly accurate to the reality of Darwin's loss of religious belief and to the origins of his groundbreaking Theory of Evolution. (For example, see Eugenie Scott's review here, or Roger Ebert's blog post.)

So, of course, Evolution-phobic America had to refuse to air the film in the U.S., citing fears of it being "too controversial".

As I said: you've got to be fucking kidding me.

A BRITISH film about Charles Darwin has failed to find a US distributor because his theory of evolution is too controversial for American audiences, according to its producer.

Creation, starring Briton Paul Bettany, details the naturalist's "struggle between faith and reason" as he wrote On the Origin of Species.

It depicts him as a man who loses faith in God after the death of his daughter, Annie, 10.

The film was chosen to open the Toronto Film Festival and has its British premiere today. It has been sold in almost every territory around the world, from Australia to Scandinavia.

However, US distributors turned down the film that will prove divisive in a country where, according to a Gallup poll taken in February, only 39 per cent of people believe in the theory of evolution.

39%? That's (slightly) better than the 36% it was a few years back … Though it's still fucking shite, of course.

As is, of course, the predicted reaction to the film from religiots:

Movieguide.org, an influential site that reviews films from a Christian perspective, described Darwin as the father of eugenics and denounced him as "a racist, a bigot and an 1800s naturalist whose legacy is mass murder". His "half-baked theory" influenced Adolf Hitler and led to "atrocities, crimes against humanity, cloning and genetic engineering", the site stated.

Wow. They probably had to dig deep and long to come up with nearly every single clichéd canard and lie about Darwin and the ToE.

You know … when I hear about a country banning a film for religious reasons, it makes me think of Afghanistan, Iraq, and other such culturally-retarded countries and places. Never would I guess America would be just as oversensitive to dissent – especially if this "dissent" comes in the form of a dramatized account of a man's life, and nothing more.

Apparently, I was wrong.

(via Pharyngula)